Hypertension in psoriasis patients: based on office and ambulatory blood pressure measurement

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disorder, which is associated with high risk of metabolic comorbidities. Hypertension (HTN) is among the most common and serious associations. In this study, we aimed to evaluate HTN in psoriatic patients through office and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM).

Forty-nine patients with confirmed diagnosis of psoriasis were enrolled in the study. Office measurement of blood pressure was performed and then holter monitoring was used for 24-h ABPM.

Thirty-six patients (73.4%) had HTN including 13 females (36.1%) and 23 males (63.9%) (P = 0.011). Twelve patients (33.3%) had masked HTN (six females and six males). Office, 24-h, morning, daytime, and nocturnal HTN were present in 49%, 40.8%, 34.7%, 36.7%, and 63.3% of our patients, respectively. The only factor significantly related to morning/daytime/24 h HTN was age, which hypertensive patients had higher age. About 22.4% of patients had metabolic syndrome, which was significantly associated with FBS, weight, waist circumference, and BMI.

Psoriasis is associated with a high rate of HTN. Masked HTN constitutes nearly one-third of hypertensive patients. ABPM increases the accuracy of HTN detection in psoriatic patients.